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Bollywood actresses who slammed body shaming, slut shaming

Body shaming – the act of mocking or criticising a person’s
body, shape, size or look, takes a toll on the person, especially if he or she
is young and growing. The person constantly keeps worrying about his or her
look, which often results in low self-esteem. While this happens in every walk
of life, celebrities, who remain in limelight, are easy targets of body shaming,
as so much is expected of them regarding their looks. There are certain people
who keep on commenting about their body, weight and even their outfits. But,
celebs too do not take such nasty comments lying down and give befitting replies
to haters for body shaming.

Recently, Sonam
Kapoor, was again trolled for wearing a bit too-revealing outfit at an
event and became the target of fashion critics and others who bashed her. But,
the actress, known for her outspoken nature, gave it back saying that she loved
her body and wasn’t a bit uncomfortable in that particular outfit. "Sexist
nonsense. The photogs went out of their way to take these pics.. and frankly I
don't give a damn, I'm proud of my body!” Sonam tweeted.

Not so long ago, Disha
Patani too was slut-shamed for wearing a revealing dress that showed off
her cleavege at the Filmfare Awards held in January. But the ‘M.S. Dhoni: The
Untold Story’ actress shut the moral-police saying that she wasn’t “going to be
anybody's idea of an Indian girl." Disha posted a long and strong message
on Instagram which read, ‘…It's easier to judge a woman on the basis of how
much they cover up their skin, but it's hard to accept your own cheap mentality
where you can't stop staring at those inappropriate areas which you are asking
her to cover! Wake up and start accepting that we are not going to be anybody’s
idea of an “Indian girl” don’t let your frustration destroy somebody’s life
because you won’t be happy if it happens in your own family!’ She captioned the
post, “Really felt a need to share this! thanks to my fan clubs friends and
family for always giving me the strength i hope we all can find this strength
from within each other and stop suffering #spreadlove.”

Priyanka Chopra
recently revealed that she was body-shamed during the initial phase of her
career, on chat show ‘The View’. She said, “Before I became an actor, I met a
producer-director about the possibility of acting. I was a beauty pageant
winner at that time; I was Miss World. And he said that everything was wrong
about me. He said my nose was not proportionate, the shape of my body was not
proportionate.” The actress further added, “The actress continued, “There is a
false perception of what our bodies should look like. Especially when you are
in the business, you put on a couple of pounds and people are body shaming you.
It happens. Christmas happens to all of us. I am an Indian so I have Holi,
Diwali, and my body fluctuates and I am fine with it.”

Acclaimed actress Vidya
Balan has been in the industry for over ten years now and has been subject
to body shaming on various occasions, especially during the early phase of her
career. But the 38-year- old artist thinks slightest about such nasty remarks
and comments and is extremely confident about herself. “It’s my body, I love my
body. It doesn’t matter what people say. Different people will have different
things to say. If I look into the mirror and I am happy with what I am wearing,
I would just step out. And then I don’t care about what anyone has to say about
it,” Vidya was quoted saying by a leading daily. The actress added, ““Over the
course of time, I have realisedthat you can’t please everyone. The world out
there will never be happy with you, so you may as well be happy with yourself.”

Actress Zareen Khan,
who was criticised for being on the heavier side, came up with a perfect
response to shut up body shaming in a long message on Instagram. The ‘Hate
Story 3’ actress shares a collage of two of her old pictures from her class 9
and 12, and wrote about how she faced criticism and harsh comments from her friends
in her school and college for her body weight. But she didn’t let this affect
her and she transformed herself into a brand-new person gaining a fabulous and
sexy look. “I never let people’s comments or ideas about me bother me. Because
it’s my life and my body and only I have the right to decide what I’m gonna do
with it… Along with the weight loss came a lot of stretch marks but instead of
feeling ashamed of it and trying to hide it, I believe in flaunting it. It
makes me feel like a tigress with her stripes,” the actress wrote.

Sonakshi Sinha too
has always been criticised for her weight, but the ‘Dabangg’ actress doesn't
give a damn to such body-shaming comments as she feels that no one has the
right to say anyone as to how they should be looking. She feels that since she
has not given people enough chance to point a finger at her work, they need a
point to talk about. “When you’re trying to be someone you’re not, you are not
being true to yourself. Why? For whom? For what? Is it worth it? No, it’s not.
Why do I need to be so thin? I’m not doing roles, which require me to look like
that. I’m not wearing clothes that require me to be skinny. Why should I?” she
was quoted as saying during an interview for ‘Akira’. Sonakshi feels that it is
more important to project a healthy body image.

Huma Qureshi is
another actress who has always faced backlash for her weight, but she has
always maintained that she does not believe in starving for fitness and just
want to be a healthier version of herself. Shutting up body shamers, Huma had
posed for a popular magazine, and the cover had the actress standing behind a mannequin,
with a clear message, “I don’t owe you perfection. My body, my rules.”

Anushka Sharma was
criticised for allegedly opting for plastic surgery to get fuller lips, after
appearing on Karan Johar’s show ‘Koffee with Karan’ in 2014. People commented
on her and said many mean things to her. But the actress took a strong stand
and said that she is “a human and not perfect.” She said in an interview, “I
didn’tthink I had to inform the world before getting my lips enhanced. It’s my
body and my decision. This was my decision and was done for the sake of my look
in my film ‘Bombay Velvet’.”

ForDeepika Padukone,
it wasn’t just body shaming but objectification of women by a leading daily
in 2014. The publication posted a video clip of the actress filmed from an
inappropriate angle on its Twitter account and wrote, “ÖMG! Deepika Padukone's
cleavage show!". Deepika gave it back and wrote, “YES! I am a Woman. I
have breasts AND a cleavage! You got a problem!!??” She further said,
"Dont talk about Woman's Empowerment when YOU don't know how to RESPECT
Women!” and added, “Supposedly India's 'LEADING' newspaper and this is
'NEWS'!!??” Her replies sent Twitter users in a frenzy against the daily and
supported her with the hashtag ‘#IStandWithDeepikaPadukone’.